Are You Running, Child?
by Luna-Blu and Hustino-Kun
Summary: .CoAuthored Between El Hustino and LunaKitsuneBlu. During the days leading up to the Festival, people were in good spirits for the holiday, but when one's life is, in one way, literally turned around, how will he and the one closest to him cope?
1. Prologue

Blu: Ello!

Hustino: WOO!

Blu: welcome to the prologue to our fic! Tis our first joint fic between Hustino-kun and I and we're really excited!

Hustino: ...WOO!

Blu: ...sooooo, without ferther adu or w/e, we bring you...the fic...yeah

Hustino: You may recognize us as El Hustino and Luna-Kitsue-Blu, and for good reason. We're them!

Blu: Woo!

Hustino: Yeah, very boring author's note. Let's get to the story before people think this is a script-fic.

Blu: Wait! We still need to warn you, since this is a completely co-authored fic, the chapters are going to be short because tis really hard to keep a story going in something as constristing as an IM box. ...okay, NOW you can go read

Hustino: talk, talk, talk

Blu: -kicks-

**.-.-.-.-.-.**

**Are You Running, Child?**

Prologue

.-.-.-.-.-.

This night was somber in Termina; rain pouring from the heavens, as if tears from the eyes of the moon that loomed over the world. Tonight, the clouds blocked the view of the ever-watching celestial body, depriving the deranged mound of rock and ore of the spectacle that had began to play out under its watch. It had been watching him, he who was now running--well, stumbling--aimlessly through the downpour, blind from both the lack of light and the abundance of fear.

He slowly made his way into the entrance of Northern Clocktown, stumbling over his own feet as he did so, as if he had yet in his life to walk with his legs. Groaning, he stood in the shelter of the archway of the Clocktown wall, leaning against the side of the archway. The rainfall was too great and the wind too strong, for even underneath the shelter he was pelted by the water and the occasional crystal of hail. Attempting to grasp the memory of who and where he was and more importantly, what he had been doing that lead him into his present situation.

He remembered two tufts of light circling another shadowed, masked figure, the entire trio laughing down at him. Deciding that they were long gone and that he had much more to worry about in his present situation, he decided to revaluate the importance of each question. Getting home was also a priority, he decided.

Looking around in the dark, he attempted to discern where exactly he lead himself to. Between the flashes of lightning he could make out the objects that made up the scene of North Clocktown. At least no one was liable to see him here; he could only imagine how garish he looked in his clothes, stained, muddied, and...oversized? The sleeves of his shirt dangled far past his hands, which was fairly unusual.

Another tidbit he found interesting: the archway of the wall seemed much larger than he remembered it. Shrugging it off, he decided it had more to do with the fact that he rarely came to North Clocktown and chalked it up to the fact that the archway was, for some reason, larger than the other three in town. Having caught his breath, he took a step out from underneath the archway and immediately found himself intimate with the ground. The step down from the archway was much higher than he thought, which was why he had lost his footing.

Laying there for a few moments--or minutes? he couldn't tell, much less care--he dragged himself up, panting and exhausted, attempting to restart his quest. After a few steps onto the grassy lawn surrounding the tree and children's' slide, the mud out from beneath his foot gave out, sending him, once again, into an intimate snog with the ground. Letting out a roar, he pounded his fists into the earth with what little energy he could muster.

"Tehehe, how typical of a child, throwing a tantrum. One would believe that some part of the spirit from before had been carried over, but I suppose this must have been more of an impressive curse than I originally thought. Or...hehe, was this how the child acted before the incident? Tehe! Very amusing indeed, Child."

"Child?" Spitting the soil and water that had managed to get into his mouth out, he said, "Who are you, you nut-job?" He might be afraid, he might have been exhausted, he might be stressed and confused beyond all belief, but he was positive that he was definitely not some kid.

"Oho! Hehe, after carrying my mask around for so long, the child has gained a bit from it. Seeing me without my icon, it takes quite a special someone, I must say. Hehe! Oh, I do believe I like you, Child."

"Quit," he wiped his mouth another time in a futile attempt to get rid of the taste of soil, "calling me a child, you old fool!" He pushed himself up with his elbows to see whatever that was addressing him. His jaw fell open.

The grinning face of a Keaton, in all its three tailed glory, stared back down at him, its head cocked inquisitively to the side. "Oho! Hehe," it laughed merrily, somehow finding his whole dilemma quite amusing, "that is what you are, aren't you? A child?"

He felt his face become red at that comment. "I most certainly am not!" he barked, forgetting the awe he had been a moment ago. Mystical creature or no, no one got away with calling him a child anymore. That was over years ago. "I'll have you know I'm going to be married!"

"Oho," it chucked. "Are you now? Not even tall enough to kiss your bride? Hehe!"

"I'm taller than she is!"

"Hehe," it laughed. "Oho!"

He let out another frustrated groan and pushed himself back up to his feet, his feet digging deeper into the muck. Although he knew he had brought himself to full height, the tip of his head barely met the creature's chest. He ignored this and instead raised his fist to shake in the fox's face.

"And what do you find so funny about this?" he asked, his teeth gritted and bared. He attempted to take a step closer to the Keaton, but his shoe had become lodged into the muck. His foot flew effortlessly out of his usually snug shoe and once again he stumbled. The mystical Keaton threw back its head and let out a roar of laughter, still quite amused.

He did not get back up, half of his face buried in the soft, wet soil. In his hands he gripped a clump of grass as the rain continued to pelt down around him. His head had begun to pound again. He closed his eyes, wishing silently to the goddess of time that he could just wake up in his room as he had earlier that morning to find this living nightmare to be a dream.

The laughter from the Keaton slowly died away into inward chuckles around him. Suddenly, he felt something grab the back of his shirt and pull him out of the muck he had surrounded himself with. It was the Keaton. It set him down gently back onto his own two feet before giving him a playful smile.

"Tehehe, I do quite like you, Child." It laughed again when he began to frown as he had before at being referred to as such. "Yes, yes, I know how old you are, Child, but you forget how old I am, hehe! Silly Child, fun Child!" The creature giggled as it wiped his dirty and slightly torn clothes with its long, flowing tails.

"My kind are far older than humans, oh yes, tehe," it went on, raising a golden paw to motion around its point with. "Far older than any human alive. You are all children. Oh yes, tehe." It looked down at him again, smiling as it had. "But you are a special case, child. Oh yes, quite special indeed, oho, hehe!"

"Right. Anyways, I'm going to go wander aimlessly in a uncoordinated stupor until I awaken from this obviously alcohol-induced dream," he replied to the grinning fox as he collected his shoe and attempted to fit it back onto his foot, which, for whatever reason, was far too small for the shoe. Asleep or awake, he knew that alcohol--most likely large amounts of it--must have come into play at some point in the night to lead to this. Hallucinating talking Keatons and wandering around North Clocktown for no reason--that just wasn't normal.

"Oho, has the child grown tired of our game?" he continued plodding through the mud and grass as the spirit fox gleefully called out to him, "Perhaps I did, in fact, underestimate him--that Imp did quite a number on you, did he not, Child? Hehehe, yes, quite a problem."

He froze at the mention of the Imp. The shadowed figure, the one with the mask that sent chills down his spine, the one with the...fairies. It had been the Imp, the Skull Kid. The memories he had of the night hit him and he realized that the creepy little monster, the normally mischievous, but hardly dangerous Imp, had threatened him, but something about it seem out of character for the tiny trouble maker; the thing did not make threats and never was the Imp ever that...frightening. As if it was something else entirely--a monster in the Skull Kid's body. He remembered...

_"Ha, what do you know about love, freak?"_ he had said, _"You're alone, no friends, nothing. Don't come to me spouting nonsense about me not knowing what love is. I'm getting married, for Goddesses' sakes!"_

He had felt that Imp glare at him through that tainted, horrible mask that he wore, swearing, _"If you know so much of love and have so much of it, then you wouldn't mind losing some of it, would you? You think, because you're some 'adult', you believe that love is second nature to you? What if you lose it?"_

Now he wished that he was drunk. Anything to forget that incident, the glare upon the face that he could only see in his imagination. The threat made by that troublesome Imp dripped with sincerity of the vilest intent and, despite how the Skull Kid normally whined and played simple, annoying tricks, he couldn't ignore the danger implied by the threat, along with the fact that he somehow had been hurt afterwards, causing him to be somewhat...well, rather, very disoriented.

"Hehe, will you run, Child? The damage has been done!" The fox called out as he ran away, rushing through the entrance connecting North Clocktown with the eastern section. "You cannot run from yourself, Child! Hehehe! We shall meet again, I am sure. This was fun, hoho."

He would go home, he decided; he would go lay down in his bed and awake the next day to find this all--the Keaton, the Imp and his fairies--to all be a horrid, horrid dream. His shoes pounded on the wet pavement as he rushed towards his home, water shooting up in his steps. His shoes were suddenly so large and clunky, making it far too difficult to run in. For the third time that night, he slipped.

The stone street rushed up to greet him as he took his unexpected fall. His left knee scraped along as he continued to slide, blood mixing with the rain as it feel mercilessly down upon him. He cried out in pain as he ducked into a roll. Clutching his knee, he skid to a stop, unwilling to move any further. He bit his lip, trying to keep the foreign tears which had suddenly come to his eyes at bay. He would not cry; he refused to cry.

Sucking in a pained breath, he rolled onto his stomach and slowly pushed himself up with his arms, both of which had also been slightly skinned. As he sat there, breathing heavily out of fear and confusion, exhaustion and pain, his eyes caught his reflection in the puddle he was leaning over. Although it was distorted and murky from the dirt and blood that slowly dripped from his body, it was clear enough to make its point across. He let out a scream.

The Keaton had been right about one thing. He was quite a child now.


	2. Help Me

Hustino: Woo, we're actually going through with this!

Blu: yupp! and such a quick update too...

Hustino: Yes! Because we couldn't resist writing more

Blu: and we have readers with such nice reviews! You're making us very happy authors

Hustino: Yup, that makes writing this together even more fun

Blu: you know, we should probably get to the story so we can get even more nice reviews.

Hustino: Aww, good point. We don't want to be alone with each other! you smell funny

Blu: ...-kicks-

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Are You Running, Child?**

Help Me

.-.-.-.-.-.

This night in Termina continued as quietly as it had begun, the rain still falling onto the earth. The moon, its devilish smile never dropping, peeked one deranged eye through the blanket of clouds, watching with silent amusement at the play that had begun not hours before beneath it. It stared down at him, he who was in hiding--hiding from himself and the world--beneath the blowing branches of the North gate's tree.

He had returned to North Clocktown not a few minutes before, taking shelter beneath the plant in some futile hope of staying a little dry. The rain still poured as it had the rest of the night, mercilessly and cold down around him. He was soaked to the bone and trembled, holding himself to keep what little warmth he had left to himself.

The Keaton was no where to be found.

He had called, he had apologized, he had begged, but the creature refused to reveal itself to him. He wished now he had been less rude to the spirit. Its warm tails would be quite welcome to him now...

He had been such a fool that night, he thought bitterly to himself. Such a horrid fool. He looked down at his hands, muddied and raw.

They were so...small now. So very small.

He closed them again and leaned his head back against the cold bark. This was all his fault. If he hadn't been such...such an _ass_, none of this would have ever happened. In frustration, he started to pound the back of his head against the tree. This only achieved in reviving his head-ache from earlier.

He signed, now staring blankly out in front of him. Although he hated to admit it, he knew what his next move would have to be. He had no other choice. But he...he _really_ wished it hadn't come to this...The last thing he wanted to do was come to her looking like _this_.

But there was no turning back now. He had just finished making sure of that. He had had to break into his own household to do it, but he now had with him the one thing that would make sure she knew who he was, even now that he had been put under this curse.

He pulled the item out of his pouch and looked down at it lovingly.

His wedding mask; the sun...

He shook his head and moved to put it back into his pouch. Yes, this would prove to his love that he was who he said he was, but if he kept it out much longer in this rain...

"Hoho, what a pretty mask..."

He smiled, imagining the grinning face of the Keaton behind him. "Isn't it though?" he asked, pausing to look at it again. "It is my wedding mask."

"A little young to be married, aren't you, child? Ohoho."

He rolled his eyes. "Listen, we've been through this," he turned around, ready to confront the fox spirit again, "I'm not a chi-" His voice stuck in his voice when he saw who was leaning down to watch him.

A man with a grinning face...

"I'm sorry, but I think you're mistaken, kid; we've never met," the bald man grinned. "So, what's a kid like you doing out so late at night in weather like this?" The man skipped around the tree to get a better view, "That is a very fine mask you have there, child."

Not one to easily trust new people--particularly ones that pranced around in the dark of the night in rainstorms--he held the mask close to himself and did his best to give off an air of impatience, "What do you want?"

"Oh! Someone's not being very polite," the tall man grinned, "what if your parents found out?"

Off to the side, he answered in a mumble, "As if either of them would care." sighing, he looked back at the bald, happy man. That grin of his was a lot different than the Keaton's. The Keaton had been having fun, but this man...there's no way a man could have a smile like his and be kind. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I'm just out and about. You know," the man smiled, "insomnia, unable to sleep. I decided to go out for a walk in this nice weather." The sarcasm failed to make him laugh, but the man went on, "That is definitely a very nice mask, you should be proud to have something like that. May I...hold it?"

With a snort, he glared at the man "As if. I think you should be on your happy way and find someone else to harass; I've got enough to deal with as it is."

"That's really too bad. Your crush dump you?" the man laughed, "Well, perhaps I should leave you to hang out and think about it?"

Before he could retort to tell him to speed it up a bit, the man gripped his shirt and hefted him up, placing his shirt onto a thick, bare branch of the tree he had been using as shelter. With a quick swipe that he did not even see, the man took the wedding mask. Skipping merrily off into the rain and darkness with his laughter, the man left him flailing angrily on the branch of the tree, fruitlessly attempting to dislodge himself.

Hanging off the branch, miserable, defeated, he stared off in awe through the weakening rain in the direction the skipping thief had gone. For a few minutes--ten, twenty, a half an hour, he could not tell--he hung, all emotion gone from his spirit. No sadness, no fear, nothing, as if he had lost everything that was him. Now he could not see the one he loved, even if she would recognize him. Without the wedding mask, the mask of the sun, all the vows he made to her were for naught and now the wedding could not take place.

Everything else was pointless now. He failed her. Now, there was nothing to do, but await whatever would happen next. The thief would probably be long gone shortly, so there was no hope of regaining the mask and he could not get another one; not that he would if he could. The original one was made by himself over the course of months and he put more effort and money into it than anything else he had done before.

Letting out a long, hard sigh, he closed his eyes and listened to the rain falling, slowly lessening in the torrent. "This could not possibly get any worse. My life is destroyed and I'm stuck in this body, atop that," he looked up into the clouded night sky, "Damn Goddesses! What else do you want to do to me?"

A crack caught his attention. Curious, he looked left and right, but did not find the cause. A second crack made him nervous, then he began to shake a bit. A moment later, the branch he was on snapped and he fell, once again brought into an intimate embrace with the ground. Laying motionless, he writhed in anger, almost laughing at the cliché aspect of it.

"Touché, touché," he muttered bitterly, collecting himself slowly from his fall. As he picked himself back up, he thought he heard a familiar chuckle, but when he looked up, there was no one. He let out a growl; even the wind mocked him.

The rain around him had started to slow, not as hard as it had been but not quite a drizzle. He stood under the swaying branches and looked back up towards the sky, the tears that grew in his eyes being held back by gravity. "What now?" he asked angrily upwards. He bit his lip and blinked away a few stubborn tear drops. "What could I possibly do now?"

His hand had somehow found its way back into the now slightly lighter pouch around his waist, his fingers brushing against the cool wood of the only object left in it. He pulled the item out to find it be his old Keaton mask. For a moment he wondered bitterly why he had grabbed this old thing from his dresser like he had his sun mask. Oh, but he had decided he had needed this for a disguise whist staying with his love. He shook his head and moved to place the yellow mask back into his bag. No point now. That plan was completely out of the question.

Suddenly he paused before looking back down at the painted face he held in his hands. Seconds later he had torn out from under the tree, past the East gate and into the South, the mask still held firmly in his small hands.

He still had a chance; he still had a plan.

After entering South Clocktown, he ran down the stone stairs, careful not to trip and make his raw and bloody knees any worse, and towards the Laundry Pool. It had to be quite late. There was a good chance...

After running up the small slope of stairs, past the mail box and around the grassy corner, he finally made it to the Laundry Pool. Not stopping to catch the breath he was obviously loosing, he ran the path around the tree, over the small bridge and towards the door on the other side of the man-made washing pond.

Throwing open the unlocked door quietly--as quietly as one can throw open a door, at least--he leapt into the storage chamber of Clocktown's Curiosity Shop, quickly making his way to the back of the room. At the back was the small window that gave one a view of the entire establishment, safe from the eyes of anyone inside. At first, he was unable to reach the hole, which was a problem never presented to him all the times he had been there before. After quietly moving a few large boxes, he stepped onto one and gazed into the window.

The view he saw was of an empty store filled carelessly with what were supposedly valuables, along with the back of the balding head of the shopkeeper. Giving a slight sigh of relief, he opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. If his body as a whole had changed, then his voice most likely had as well. Clearing his throat, he did his best to sound like himself, "Hey!"

The shopkeeper jumped and looked around nervously, as if he had just been awoken, "Wha? Who's that? Who's 'ere?" The shopkeeper, eyes squinted, glanced around the entire shop, except for the window.

Rolling his eyes, he yelled out again, "Alan, you dimwit, right behind you! In the storage room!"

"Eh?" was Alan's reply as he turned to look into the secret window. "Is't you, Kafei? Sounds 'ike you've got yourself a cold 'ere."

"I don't care what I sound like! Just get back here, I need some help."

"Oh! So, you get int' some trouble, Kafei? Ha, I hope it's got nothin' to do with your lady!"

Letting out a growl and attempting to stir up what little patience he had left, he answered, "No! I mean, yes. Well, sort of. Damn it, Alan, just get back here so I can show you!"

"'K, 'k, just keep yer shirt on, a'right?" Alan turned and left out the front door of the store, grumbling, "Sheesh, comes into my store at the most ungodly hour and orders _me _around. Pah."

Rolling his eyes as his friend went out of earshot, he hopped off the box and prepared himself. It would be difficult to convince Alan of the truth, but it had to be done. His parents were out of the question, not that they would have cared about his plight, and he could not see his fiancé due to the thief...

As the doorknob to the room turned, he took a deep breath and stood so that Alan would see him as soon as the door opened. Once it did, Alan let out a swear, "Damn it all! What're you doin' here, kid? It weren't even Kafei, was it?"

Releasing the breath, he began, "Alan, it _is _me. _I _am Kafei."

The shopkeeper snorted, "Oh, right, right. That was a pretty good joke 'ere, kid, with the voice and tricking me and all, but I think you're pushin' it."

"No! Alan, I'm serious!" He stopped himself from shouting, seeing as shouting would do no good, and then continued as calmly as possible, "That Imp the Skull Kid somehow turned me into this tonight. I've been running around aimlessly for hours."

Alan looked him up and down, surveying him. "I 'uppose that I need to believe a bit o' that. You definitely look like a mess to me. But that Imp's got nothing like that to turn someone int' a kid."

Looking down at himself for the first time, he noticed what Alan meant. His clothes were in tatters and almost every inch was soaked in mud. "Alan, just listen. I _am _Kafei. I know it's relatively crazy, but just think for a moment! How many people know your name, Alan? How many people know about the backroom here or about the window into the shop?"

"Er," the shopkeeper scratched the back on his neck, "I 'uppose that's fairly true, but perhaps you got lucky? Overheard my name from someone else or perhaps you just now guessed it off the top of your head and got it right! And you prolly just found the window, anyways."

Closing his eyes, refusing to let the stress make him go ballistic and beat Alan over the head, he began again. "Look at me. I'm a mess, but just _look. _My clothes; my hair. I might be smaller, but I'm _me!_"

Alan did take a moment to absorb that and, after looking over his blue hair and the outfit, did appear to have some recognition flash across his face, "Eh, plenty of kids have blue-purple-y hair like that nowadays, and besides, I don't pay attention to what othe' guys are wearin'!"

"Okay, fine. We've been friends our entire lives, so how about this: do you remember the time that you smashed my mother's Zoran vase and she was furious, but I took the blame? And not because I wanted to, but because you blamed me?" He could tell that Alan was believing all of it, but was doing his best to convince himself otherwise. "Or what about the time we tried watching Anju change, but we ended up being chased out of the in by Tortus and you ran into the bell and I feel off of the deck entirely?"

Alan shook his head, "Stop it, kid, you're really creepin' me out. There's no way you could be Kafei! No way..."

He sighed and reached into his pocket for his last hope. If this didn't convince his friend that he was who he said he was, then nothing would. Placing the Keaton mask on his face, he saw Alan's eyes widen and his face pale. "See, Alan? Do you remember me now?"

"Kaf-Kafei, ist' really you?" he took off his hat and rubbed his balding head, "I just...there's no way it could be anyone else. You look exactly just like you had when I gave it to you back then..."

Letting out a long sigh of relief, he said, "Thanks, Alan. I feel a bit more...relieved," Kafei wobbled on his feet a bit, "Just...just need a place to stay for a while..." then the exhaustion took hold where the anxiety had been keeping him awake and Kafei fell to the floor, asleep.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Kafei! NO!"

She shot up straight in her bed, her ruby hair askew and matted to her face with the cold sweat that covered her body. Her breaths were quick and frightened as she rubbed the sweat from her face and her hair back into its place out of her eyes. "Just a dream," she muttered to herself, laying back down. "Just a dream, go back to sleep..." She closed her eyes again, willing that by doing so, she'd fall back into a peaceful dream. Sadly, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her worried mind from reliving the nightmare she had just woken from. The one where her love was ripped from her...

She opened her eyes again and stared at the dark ceiling, suddenly aware of the rain hitting the roof and the windowsill. There would be leaks to fix in the morning, she thought to herself. Kafei was out drinking with his friends, she remembered, hoping he hadn't been caught in the down pour. Turning over on her side, she looked out her window with a sigh. The night outside, although dark from the storm, had an eerie glow to it that made her shudder.

Minutes passed and the rain began to slow, the clouds thinning somewhat. The moon, which had become larger with each passing day, peeked a devilish eye through the cloud cover and stared at her through her window. Severely creeped-out, for lack of better wording, by this, she rolled over again, her back now facing the fascinated orb hanging over her.

And to think she used to think the moon was romantic...


	3. Listen to Me

Blu: eep, our quick updating spree sure ended fast

Hustino: I'm not taking the blame!

Blu: okay, okay, tis my fault, but my summer has gotten really busy, REALLY quickly. So, in advance, sorry everyone!

Hustino: Yes, I place ALL the blame on Blu and the fact that she's overflowing with FAR too much talent that her tiny body has trouble containing

Blu: -blushes- okay, okay, lets just get on with the chapter

Hustino: ...so, do I get a reward?

Blu: ...well, we have to be consistent, so yeah, you get a reward

Hustino: ...but...I'm expecting something nice, like a hug or so...

Blu: oh fine -hugs-

Hustino: Sweet!

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Are You Running, Child?**

Listen to Me

.-.-.-.-.-.

A new day spread before Termina's inhabitants, another chance of endless potential, to live their lives to the fullest or continue with their daily actions. Either way, the capital of Clocktown was a bustle of energy and urgency, more so than usual due to the fact that the land's most joyous occasion was a few days away. Almost seemingly caught up in all the action and events playing around the town, the moon appeared to refuse to retire to the other side of the world when the sun rose, wanting to watch all that played out before it, particularly the scene that had enticed it the night previous; it stared on, awaiting the next part of the act to begin.

One particular person, a new unsuspecting performer in the play that amused the devilish moon so, was busier than much of the rest of town, as her humble home routinely became an important part of the yearly extravaganza. That was to be expected, being one of the few--two, in fact--caretakers of the single inn to be found in all of Clocktown, the center of the festival.

Rather, she was normally busy and had been busy, but at this moment, she idly stared off, fixated on a random point on one of the building's walls, leaning against the broom that, up until a few moments prior, had been doing its job of cleansing the floor of dust and debris.

Oi, Kafei... The woman sighed to herself. Being so drawn into her thoughts, she did not notice the frustrated form barreling in behind her until it let out a deep, gruff sound, similar to clearing one's throat. Jumping, she spun, fumbling for the broom as it threatened to fall from her hands and was met with a face as gruff as the sound. Her mother, capable of scaring even a Goron with her glower, looked disapprovingly at her.

"Oh, oh! I'm sorry, Mother!" she gripped the broom twice as hard as was necessary and feverishly returned to sweeping the waiting room of the inn. "I just dozed off and..." she trailed off, the quick and upstart apology--something that she was quite known for--was left hanging, deciding rather to continue with her reckless cleaning.

"Anju," Mother began, "Don't worry," and then she went from consoling immediately to reinforcing the thought that an apology on her part was necessary, "But you know Gormon and his troupe are scheduled to come tonight and knowing that man, he'll have them come early just to make an impression. We need the entire inn re-cleaned entirely for the guests and dazing off with a broom is not going to get the job done."

After a moment in which she did not respond, her mother added, "You know that this is our busiest time of the year and we all need to be right on top of everything. It won't do to have Gormon complaining about the quality of the service and the state of the inn." Another moment of silence, aside from the noise of the sweeping, which had slowed down considerably, "Are you alright, Anju? You seem much more groggy than usual this morning." This was more a question of curiosity than a question of concern from a parent.

"I just," she said, watching the head of the broom sway back and forth with her sweeps rather than at her mother, "Didn't sleep to well last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to bed, that's all."

Mother thought for a moment and seemed to decide that was an adequate answer, "Well, you don't stop until this room is spotless. I'm going back to the guests' room to go over that again. When you're done, clean the kitchen." With that, her mom left, walking up the stairs to the second floor of the inn.

She let out a sigh, but continued her sweeping. She did feel unusually tired, but there was also a strong sense of worry along with it--or possibly, it was that feeling that made her drained? Either way, it had been the nightmare that had done this, leaving her worried for her fiancé's safety. Shaking her head, she dismissed herself as being silly, It was just a dream.

Letting out another sigh due to the fact that she could not bring herself to believe her thoughts, she continued sweeping and attempting to calm her nerves. "Just a dream," she swept, "just a dream," again, sweeping, "just a dream."

Interrupting her thoughts, the front door of the inn opened without so much as a knock and through opening hopped the freckled face and green-haired head of the receptionist from Mayor Doutor's residence--which was also her lover's home.

"Kaf-EEEEEEEEEEEI!" The receptionist called in her high, feminine voice. Without even giving her and her broom a first, let alone second glance, the young woman walked across the room and peeked over and behind the front desk before calling again. "Kafei! Oh Kafei! Where are you!" the unexpected guest called again, this time bending over to see under the couch up against the wall. Oh how she _loathed_ that woman, always barging in like she owned everything in the town, including _her_ fiancé's love. She had to restrain herself from brandishing her broom and giving her rude intruder one hard smack on the a-

"Anju, right?"

She blinked, her daydream ruined. "Y-yes," she stuttered. The receptionist rolled her eyes and looked around the room again.

"Where are you hiding him?" the woman asked.

"H-hiding who?" she asked, sweeping again. The receptionist rolled her eyes again.

"Kafei, silly," she explained. "Where is he?"

"I-I don't know," she replied, trying not to let the annoyance she was feeling by this other woman's presence was bringing her.

"Well, if you see him, tell him to come on home, 'kay?" The young woman ended her sentence with a loud pop of her gum. "His mom's worried." With a flip of her mint hair, the hottie little secretary turned around and headed back towards the door. Before grabbing the handle, she turned around and looked her up and down before making a disgusted face. "How in the world did a cutie like Kafei ended up with a nobody like you, I'll never know," the woman muttered, loud enough for her to hear. With that, she left.

She let out a growl before changing the grip on her broom, motioning towards the door as if she would smack it a couple times too.

"ANJU!"

She let out a yelp, her grip around the handle loosening. She fumbled again with her wooden friend before finally getting a good hold on it again. Her mother came pounding down the stairs a second after.

"Anju! Was that a customer?" her mother asked. She quickly shook her head. "Oh good, I wasn't ready for them quite...Anju," her mother motioned to her broom, "why are you holding the broom upside-down?"

Realizing what she had done, she spun the broom back around to its normal position, bristles towards the floor, before giving her mother a apologetic smile.

"Just chasing a mouse out the door, Mother..."

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was dark...

Suddenly, he was quite aware of exactly how dark it was. He knew his eyes were open, but no shapes appeared in front of him. He stared upwards groggily, the bed beneath him and the covers draped over him foreign. _The cot was pushed to the wrong side of the wall..._He thought, realizing to his left there was indeed a wall.

"'Ey! 'Ey! Time t' wake up, already!"

A lamp was suddenly lit to his right and he let out a groan at the sudden light hitting his eyelids. No, the bed was right where it was meant to be, for this was not his room. This was the room behind the Curiosity shop, where he would be staying for a long, long time. He suddenly felt like sleeping for a much longer time.

"You up?" a voice asked, most likely the one owned by the lighter of the lamp. He recognized it at once as the voice of the owner of the room he was currently laying in.

"Yes, Al', I'm up," he spat back, rubbing his burning eyelids. It had come back slow at first, but he definitely remembered everything about the night before now. And, goddess damn, did it give him one hell of a headache.

Maybe it was all just a dream...he mused silently. It wouldn't be the first time that he had had far too much to drink and ended up at Alan's place. He kept his eyes closed for a second longer before raising his hands. Biting his lip, he willed his eyes to open to see normal, adult sized hands poking out of a normal, adult sized shirt.

Raw, scraped, child hands looked back at him. He closed his eyes again, counted to three, and looked again, seeing the same. He turned the small hands over to see muddy and chipped fingernails, the knuckles just as raw as the palms. He let out another groan.

"So..." He looked up to see Alan sitting across from him in a chair that usually went in front of the small desk in the opposite corner. Cradled in the shop owner's hands were two cups, one obviously meant for him and the other Alan's. Slowly, he sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed, trying not to notice how his feet didn't quite reach the ground. Pulling the blanket he had been laying under a minute ago up around his shoulders, he took the mug from his now much older friend.

"'So' what?" he asked before blowing some steam off the top of the brown liquid inside his mug.

"So...how'd it happ'n?" Alan pushed.

"Now that's something I would like to know myself," he grumbled out, giving the strange substance in his cup a sour face; looking back up, he saw Alan giving him the 'you know what I mean, so stop being difficult' face, which, ironically, much resembled an annoyed glare. "Oh, fine. If you're that curious to know, I suppose I'll tell you what I remember. I was just leaving the—_Bleck!_" he let out a disgusted sound after taking a sip from the cup. "What in the Hells is _this?_"

"Er, well," Alan scratched the back of his head, a sign of nervousness attributed to him, "That'd be hot chocolate, I kid you not." Giving the shopkeeper an incredulous look, the man went on, "Er, well, just seemed weird to be giving a kid alcohol, yah know? 'ey, don't look at me like 'at! What if one of the guards came popping in, eh? Good luck convincin' them of who yer are. Viscen'd have us both thrown int' jail for being loony! I don't like the idea of a rumor of me havin' some li'l kid in my backroom dressed as my best friend and slipping him drinks floating around town, neither! And besides," he added after, "Seems t' me that after last night, you pro'ly had enough t' drink for a while."

His glare slowly caved in and accepted the fact that a real drink was probably the last thing he needed at the moment. Still… "Could you have at _least _made it coffee instead?" Alan, throwing his hands in the air, slouched further into his seat, giving up and mumbling something about him definitely being Kafei. Rolling his eyes, he decided to finally go on with the story. Heck, it would probably do him some good to finally put it all into perspective.

He paused to collect his thoughts, going over in his head exactly how he would start; what he'd say to make sure he didn't end up sounding any crazier than he already felt. Finally, he opened his crimson eyes to stare at the floor and began to speak.

"I was at the bar-" he was cut off by a very rude laugh from Alan's direction. His eyes shot back up to glare at his friend, who, although trying to take an innocent air about it, still snickered behind one of his hands.

"Th' best 'a stories always start out at th' bar," Alan mused loudly, still laughing to himself.

"Do you want me to tell you about it or not?" he snapped, annoyed. The shop keeper nodded, his giggles quieted for the moment. He sighed and stopped to recollect his thoughts.

"Anyways, I was at the bar," he repeated, "just having a pre-wedding party." Alan opened his mouth to interrupt, but he stopped him. "You weren't there because you had work and said you were going to stay sober as your Festival of Time resolution, which by the way, is total bullshit," he said, answering for his friend. Alan then closed his mouth and let the shorter of the two continue. There was a short pause. "I got... a little drunk." Alan cocked an eyebrow. "Okay, a _lot_ drunk, but hell, I was the happiest I had ever been! I was going to get _married_ in a week!" He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his violet mess of hair.

"Anyways, I came out of the bar goddess knows when, and ran into the skull kid." He paused again, not really wanting to go any further. Somewhere, he knew he still clung to the slim possibility that this hell that he had been dropped into was really just a horrid nightmare. Admitting what he had said, what had happened next, would make it far too real for that illusion of his to keep on existing...

Taking a deep breath, he continued, "This is where things become a bit blurry and I can't really recall everything entirely. And it's not just because of the drinks! I had quite a bit to drink, but I had complete control over myself!"

He saw Alan sneer and shake his head at that comment, "Ha, spoken like a true drunk."

"Oh, shut it. You've been on that resolution for about four days, so don't get all high-and-mighty with me quite yet," a moment later, he added, "And _stop_ interrupting the damn story!" Recollecting his thoughts--again--he restarted, "So, I left the bar and ran into the Skull Kid.

"Now that I think about it, I might have been a little more out of it than I thought. I'm pretty sure now that I ran into him outside the entrance of North Clocktown, outside the town walls," he scratched his blue hair in confusion, "I really have no clue what drew me there." An eerie silence wafted between them for a moment as the story was put on hold. "Anyways," he shook his head, "there was the Skull Kid. The damn Imp comes up to me and gets in my face, saying something about recognizing who I was. Actually, now that I think about it, he was acting pretty strange, even for him."

Staring straight at the floor, he continued more quietly and slowly, "The strangest thing, the one thing that I remember perfectly clear, is the mask on his face. I've never seen anything so unsettling in my life. It was ugly, sure, but something else about it just...made my skin crawl, as if there was some hideous thing in the mask," he snickered half-heartedly, "Aside from the Skull Kid's face, I mean.

"That Imp is normally one for pranks, not out-rightly picking fights, so I can't explain what started it. I was trying to avoid him--either to give him the hint that I wasn't in the mood or to avoid looking at that mask again, I can't really say. I ignored him for the most part, but when he said he knew who I was and then...started belittling me and Anju...I lost it."

He put his face into his hands and let the rest come out, "I blew up. I can't remember much of what I had said, exactly, but whatever it was struck a cord with that miserable Imp. Something about not knowing what love is, being an ignorant kid, and never going to have the chance to, if I had to guess." he felt Alan's stare, one eyelid higher than the other out of curiosity, "Alright, I remember a bit of what I said! I just," he sighed, "don't want to repeat it. Not even that annoying, miserable, selfish Imp deserved it and if it was what got me into this, I'd just rather forget I had said it. Anyways, the Skull Kid came back saying that I didn't really know what love was and said he'd teach me, by taking it away...

"That's where the memories stop. I must have been knocked unconscious at some point by something, because when I woke up I had a horrible time thinking and walking straight. Not to mention the headache, uck." He looked back at his hands, a hollow and miserable smile on his face, "I thought something was going to happen to Anju. I suppose I was wrong. Who would have thought that Imp had a knack for poetic justice?"

"Poetic wha?" Alan interrupted, obviously trying to lighten the mood by playing the fool for him. He shook his head.

"Irony, Alan," he explained. "Just...okay, I was lost, right? For a while I was so out of it, I couldn't even remember who I was...It...anyways, I some how got to North Clock town where I," he let out another short laugh, "you won't believe this, saw a Keaton." Alan raised his eye brow again. "Yes, Alan, a Keaton. An honest to Din Keaton."

"Now you'r' just messin' wit' me," his friend replied. "'Ere is no goddess damn way you saw a real Keat'n." Alan leaned back in his chair, "No goddess damned way."

"Oh, but I did," he countered. "I swear I did. Alan," he motioned toward himself, "can you actually look at me and say I haven't seen stranger in the last twenty-four hours?" He paused for affect. Alan just rolled his eyes and motioned for him to just go one already. "Anyways, I was in North Clock town, I had just fallen flat on my face, and this Keaton pops out of no where and start talking to m-"

"S' now th' Keat'n's TALKIN' wit' you, is 'e?" Alan asked, interrupted. "You sure it wasn't th' booze?"

"Alan, I-"

"Now that I think 'bout it, I saw a Keat'n once."

"Alan."

"I kid you not, it told me t' go out and-"

"ALAN! I'm SERIOUS!

"I don't even care anymore." He let out a low groan. "The point is, that's all that happened," his face darkened and once again he became serious, "except," he could feel the dismay dripping from his mouth, "I went back and got my wedding mask, intent on going to Anju and showing her who I was. I figured she'd understand better than anyone else," he glared at Alan, "and I think I was right--anyways, I...in North Clocktown...I got mobbed." He punched the bed with one of his fists, "I didn't think anyone would be there!"

"Eh," Alan squirmed, unable to think of something to say to console his friend. The man was well aware what losing the wedding mask meant. "What'd the guy look like?"

"It was still raining and I was pretty stressed and tired, so I can't give a really good description, but..." he thought for a moment, eyebrows furrowing, "I do recall him having a strange walk. Almost like a...prance. I think he was bald, too." There was a pause. "And the face…" he muttered. "He had a grinning face…" He looked his friend right in the eyes, "Tell me, Alan. You're into all this back-alley, black market type stuff. Do you know of _anyone_ that remotely resembles that?"

After a moment, the shopkeeper sighed, "Eh, I can't really say. What I mean is, there're plen'y of weird folk come int' m' store. Funny-lookin' ones, funny-actin' ones, funny-walkin' ones. Can't really pin one down with tha' bit o' description, Kafei."

There was a pause, in which Alan's face went from one of deep thought to playful. "But, ch'ya know," the shop owner started, leaning his forearms on his knees towards his friend on the bed, "anythin' and 'verythin' 'at gets stolen' in this 'ere town, ends up right back 'ere." His eyes widened in realization at what his friend was getting at.

"You mean..."

"It's not like yer gonna be goin' anywhere else fora while," the taller of the two said happily, shrugging his shoulders as he stood. Before Alan could get too far though, there was a tug on his shirt.

"Thank you _so_ much, Alan," he said, his now child hands still gripping the shop keepers sleeve. "You can't know how much..."

"'Ey, 'ey, 'ey," Alan responded, shrugging again. "No problem."


	4. Miss Me

Blu: And we're back again!

Hustino: Whoa, look at that, we are!

Blu: And so fast too! Go us!

Hustino: I think we might be on a roll.

Blu: Anywho, before we begin, I think we should make something clear. We...messed with the time line for MM a little...

Hustino: LIES

Blu: we did too! Instead of being gone a month, Kafei's been gone...two days...yeah

Hustino: Bah, we just rounded down...slightly.

Blu: Slightly...-kick-

Hustino: Ow! What'd I do!

Blu: -shrugs-

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Are You Running, Child?**

Miss Me

.-.-.-.-.-.

Afternoon set in quietly and unnoticed in the small city of Clocktown, the sun still hanging slightly over its small world. Termina's moon, on the other hand, hadn't moved from its post over their town except to slightly descend closer to the small play of events beneath it. She had done her best to ignore the large rock above her as she stepped out of her home/inn, but, as if drawn by an unexplainable force, she paused, her eyes slowly cast upward towards the twisted face of the orb suspended above her. The moon smiled sickeningly down at her, as if in greeting, and her gut churned. This new, sadistic look their moon had taken on made her want to vomit. She looked away and stepped down out of her door, and into a rather large puddle. Letting out a small groan, she quickly side-stepped out of the water and onto a little drier ground.

"BONSAI!"

A sudden wave of water erupted forward as all five Bombers jumped into the puddle beside her at once. She covered her face with her arms, but was unable to move out of the way in time to save her skirt. Looking down at her now muddy outfit, she let out another, louder groan

"Sorry, Miss Anju," the boys all said in unison, a little pale from the thought of getting in trouble for what they had just done. This time she let out a sigh.

"It's okay," she assured them, bending down to rustle the hair of the one nearest to her. "I'm fine, really. Just watch where you're splashing." They nodded and ran off waving, presumably to find another, more secluded puddle to jump in.

After doing her best to wipe off most of the damage, she went back on her way towards the back of East Clocktown, towards the mayor's office. On entering, she heard the secretary let out a soft groan.

"How may I help you?" the woman behind the counter asked in a short, annoyed tone.

"I-is Kafei home?" she asked quietly.

The secretary let out another, slightly louder groan. "You know," she said, ignoring her question, "it's really annoying when you stutter like that."

"I'm sor-"

"And don't apologize for everything, jeez." The green haired girl whipped the pencil behind her ear out and wagged it at her. "Show some backbone!"

She swallowed hard. "I just want to know w-where Kafei is," she said, trying to sound confident. "Has he co-come home?"

The other girl sighed, "No, he hasn't. What's it to you?"

"Well, he is my fiancé and all..." She had started to get a little annoyed. "And I-"

"That's not what I heard."

She stopped mid sentence. "W-what?"

The secretary cocked her head in fake confusion. "You mean you haven't heard?" She shook her head. The other woman shook her own head in disbelief, her mint hair swaying from side to side. "Poor, poor naive Anjie."

"A-Anju," she corrected softly.

"Whatever," the other girl rolled her eyes, "listen, do you want me to tell you what I heard or not?"

"Sorry."

"Anyways," the secretary paused to lean forward, motioning she should do the same, as if the information she was about to hear was top-secret. She did as she was asked and the woman in front of her continued, "I heard around town on my lunch break that Kafei actually ran off to..."

"To where?" she asked.

"To Milk Road with Cremia!" the woman finished. "Can you believe it?"  
She stepped back, shaking her head.

"That's just a rumor," she said, trying to sound sure of her answer.

"Anjie, look at yourself," the secretary motioned with her pencil at her, "You're plain, you're covered in mud, and you can't even speak without stuttering all the time. What man in his right mind, let alone a man like Kafei, would want to marry that."

"B-but he is!" she snapped back.

"Oh, Anjie, Anjie," the secretary shook her head again, "keep telling yourself that, girl. Keep that hope up. But it's not a rumor, believe me. It's true." The green haired woman smiled sweetly at her. "You still have that one carpenter! He loves you..."

The look on her face became even more perplexed and the secretary giggled, "My, you are one naive thing, aren't you, Anjie? One of Mutoh's men is completely obsessed over you! Oh, don't look like that. They might be big and ugly and not too bright, but you gotta take what you can, right, Anjie?" she winked, more tauntingly than playfully.

"I-I...may I see Madame Aroma or M-mayor Dotour?"

Rolling her eyes, the mint-headed girl waved her hand dismissively, "Whatever. The Mayor's got a meeting, but Aroma's got no appointments for a while."

Bowing slightly, she walked to the door on the right of the room and, as she reached for the knob, the secretary added, "Don't make me say 'I told ya so' later."

Opening the door, she stepped into the large, well adorned room. The one occupant in the room sat in a small chair--far too small for her...large frame.

After a moment or so, Madame Aroma finally noticed her standing politely in front of the closed door, awaiting to be addressed. "Oh, my, Anju, dear! Come, sit down. What brings you here, dear?" the large woman said merrily, not quite the attitude that was expected for one whose son was not to be found.

"My, look at you! What happened to your clothes?"

"Oh, oh, that's nothing," she dismissed her messy outfit quickly, "Um, M-Miss Ar--"

"Madame, dear."

"I'm sorry, sorry. Madame Aroma, what...what's all this about Kafei?"

"Hmm? Oh! Oh, yes, yes," the woman nodded and then frowned, seemingly more from frustration than anything such as worry or care, "Well, seems that my Kafei didn't come home last night and we can't find him now." Her jovial grin came back, an image more frightening than most would think, "But, no worries, I have done the liberty of hiring a _professional _person-finder. In fact, he'll be here tomorrow, so there is no need for you to worry, dear!"

"Oh," she said, not as relieved as she had hoped, "I...I'm sure he'll find him," she said, not managing to sound very positive, but Aroma did not seem to notice.

"Yes, yes, of course he will, dear. It IS a _professional_ person-finder, after all! Besides, Kafei's probably just gone someplace to have fun. That boy, I'll tell you." Aroma patted her shoulder comfortingly, "Now, no reason for you to get all worried about Kafei. I'm sure you've got more important things to do, what with the carnival and all. No reason to busy yourself with our mess!" Aroma laughed.

Now she felt more nauseous than she did before, but actually managed to control her voice to now show it...not too badly, anyways. "Oh, w-well, thank you, Miss Ar--"

"Madame, dear"

She squeezed her eyes shut, _stupid, stupid_, "I'm sorry, sorry. Thank you, Madame Aroma, I feel a bit more...uh..."

"Oh, it is no problem, dear! It's so nice that you're worried for poor Kafei. Now, you better run along, I'm sure your mother needs you at the inn." Anju noted to herself that that woman was far too cheerful for any occasion.

Nodding, Anju stood and left through the door. The secretary was leaning forward on her desk, chin in her hands and a large bubble blowing out of her mouth. The mint-haired woman give her a dirty look--subtle, but enough for her to notice, and her head sunk, staring at the floor as she walked.

The sound of the other door opening and the commotion coming out of it, brought her attention back up. Out from the doorway of the mayor's personal office, came Viscen, the commander of the town's guards, and the Mayor himself.

"Thank you, Viscen. Please, just keep an eye out for him."

The guard nodded, "Yes, mayor. We've been looking everywhere, but we'll keep trying." The tall man, flanked by two guards, said their good-byes to the mayor and left, nodding politely to Anju on their way by.

"Oh, my, Anju, I didn't see you there," Dotour said and the short man walked over to her.

His eyes were ragged, as always. "I take it from this random visit that you've heard about Kafei?" she nodded, saying nothing. "I see. I'm really sorry, Anju, but I have no idea what could have happened to that boy."

"It's alright mayor--"

The man snickered, "You don't need to be so formal with me, Anju. I'm going to be your father-in-law, so there's no need for that."

The first real smile she could manage the entire morning appeared on her face, "Thank you. D-do you have any clues at all? Maybe he went to...see someone?"

Dotour's face grew sad, then looked out of the corner of his eye to his secretary, just as her bubble popped, then back, "No, there's no reason to think that. Besides, there's no one he'd go see other than you, Anju."

She felt herself warm up a bit from the comment, "Oh, thank you, M--uh..."

The tired and weary man laughed, "No problem, Anju. We'll figure out what to do with the whole 'Mayor' and 'father-in-law' thing after the wedding." Her face suddenly fell, her fears coming back. "There will be a wedding, Anju," he placed his hand comfortingly on her arm--and truly comforting, not like Aroma's--and said, "Whatever it is that's happened to Kafei, it's keeping him from you. I'm sure he's doing everything he can to get back to you." She smiled again from the man's words. "Either that, or he's drunk in a gutter somewhere in town, but, either way, he's definitely not gone in an attempt to avoid you or the wedding."

She laughed, the first genuine laugh since the beginning of the day, and felt much happier. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Anju. Just saying what I think," he frowned, "Goddesses know that I do not do it often enough." She imagined he was referring to his meetings and such, which she had always heard from Kafei were stressful and aggravating for his father, but he took it all to prevent anyone else from feeling the same way. "Well, I better get back to being Mayor." The blue-haired man nodded a good-bye. "He'll be back, Anju, even if he has to crawl his way back on the night of the festival. Even if the moon really does fall, he'd be back to you in time." They smiled to each other and then the Mayor turned and went back to his door, giving his secretary a scowl and a shake of his head, neither of which she saw, before entering.

Feeling a little better, she took her leave through the office's front door, not bothering a wave good-bye to the secretary behind her as she went. Once outside, she made her way back down the steps leading back towards her home. She would make one more stop before going home though. If Kafei's parent's didn't know where he was, maybe...

"Anju?"

She looked up towards the voice which had just called her name to see none other but her friend, Cremia, a dolly full of milk in her hands. She felt a sudden rise of hope. Maybe she'd know...

"Cremia!" she called, rushing over. "Cremia, how are you?" Her friend smiled warmly and opened her arms for a hug. The two embraced in greeting and after a moment, Cremia pulled away.

"I'm doing fine!" the other woman said cheerfully. "Except for the constant rants about alien's my little sister keeps going on." Cremia shrugged and continued to smile. "Kids, they're so weird." The two laughed good naturedly. "But what about you?" The farm girl's expressions changed from playful to excited. "You're getting married in a few days! I haven't seen you since right after the proposal! Are you excited!" She opened her mouth to say something when her friend cut her off with another whirlwind of questions. "Have you finished your mask? Oh, wait, of course you have! You'd have gotten done right away, right? Has Kafei, though? Speaking of Kafei, where is that hunk? Shouldn't he be hanging off your arm like a purse?"

Her mouth fell open slightly. "You mean...you don't know where he is?" she asked in a confused tone.

Cremia blinked. "Of course, I don't know where he is, I haven't been out of the ranch for weeks. Besides, he's not my fiancé..." For a moment, she just stared at her friend in disbelief before bursting into a fit of giggles. Cremia gave her friend a confused look.

"What's so funny?"

"I-I'm sorry!" she managed around the laughter. "I-I was just so worried!"

"Worried?" Cremia asked. "Why?"

She slowly regained control of herself and gave her friend a pleased smile. "It's nothing, I just heard the silliest rumor from the mayor's secretary."

Cremia scoffed loudly. "You shouldn't listen to a woman like that. She's a walking pipe of hot air." They both laughed at that.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" she asked. Her friend rolled her eyes and motioned to the dolly she had just pushed thru the gate.

"What else?" Cremia leaned on the hand rail of the dolly and smiled ruefully. "My life revolves around whether or not your bar needs milk." The farm girl sighed. "And with those Garo bandits harassing my shipments and finding my barn in a mess constantly, I'm going to have to make trips here more often. Heck, I came here today and need to come right back tomorrow. I'll be hurting if I can't supply the bar to make it through the festival."

"Oh, um..." she thought for a moment as her friend stood there, looking off at nothing in particular and a gloomy look upon her face, "I'm sorry, Cremia."

"That's so like you, Anju," the redhead said, smiling warmly as she shook her head, "always ready to apologize." Before she could respond, Cremia went on, "Besides, it seems that you've got bigger problems. This Carnival of Time is going to be a real mess for everyone. Heh, Romani's even practicing with her bow for when the 'ghosts' come." They both laughed.

She smiled at her old friend, a smile that was half forced and half genuine, "I hope everything works out for you, Cremia. I really don't want to see you lose the farm."

Cremia smiled. "Thanks Anju, but it seems that you've got a bit more to lose." the red head quickly covered her mouth, "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant to say at all."

"Oh...that's alright," Anju sighed, "I understood what you meant. I just...Cremia, if...if Kafei-if you..._see_ Kafei, tell him that I'll be happy no matter what he chooses to do."

The farm girl's face turned a red to match that of her hair, "I haven't seen him, but if I do...I'll tell him that, but," she added, "I'm also going to tell him to get his rear end back to his...fiancé."

Surprising her friend, Anju jumped over and hugged her. "Oh, thank you, Cremia. It's so nice that someone...just, today...you have no idea."

Cremia smiled. "This is just the first day and you're already fretting. Keep looking, he'll turn up eventually." The innkeeper nodded solemnly. "I need to get going; I want to get back to the ranch and Romani before it's dark. I'll make sure to talk to you again tomorrow, Anju."

As they said their good-byes and Cremia picked up her wagon, the farm girl mentioned something that came to mind, "Oh, have you gone to see...Alan, was his name? Aren't him and Kafei best friends?"

She bit her lip for a moment, then answered, "Yeah, I-I'll probably stop in to ask him if he knows anything. Thank you, Cremia."

The two women looked at each other sadly for a few long moments, then Cremia left, her wagon slowly leaving Clocktown. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself to see the owner of the Curiosity Shop, Kafei's oddly creepy friend. She looked over her shoulder to where Cremia had left and her heart twisted again.

All the happenings of the day violently bounced around her mind. Despite Mayor Dotour and Cremia, she still felt guilty and incredibly worried for Kafei. The feeling was accompanied by a sense of discomfort as she treaded her way towards West Clocktown, a section of the city she dreaded entering.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Aww, come on, cheer up a'ready! I won't be gone fer long."

He gave Alan a sour face. "How in the world can you say that?" he asked bitterly. "Between this body and your horrid cooking, I have near nothing to live for." Alan rolled his eyes before stepping in front of his path again.

"Well, you sure as hell can't be goin' outside," the shopkeeper retorted.

"Alan, get out of my way."

"I mean it, Kafei, get yer butt back on that 'ere bed," Alan snapped, pointing a finger towards the cot behind him. "And so help yer kiddy ass if you've moved when I come back."

"Alan, quit sounding like my mother and get the hell out of my way," he almost yelled. Alan took on a disgusted look at being associated with someone like his mother, and he didn't blame him, but his balding friend didn't budge. He let out another groan. "Listen, I'll be fine. My clothes are too muddy to be recognized, I'm going to be wearing my mask, and I wont speak to anyone, so for the love of the Giants, _get out of my way_."

"And where," Alan spat, "would you be goin'?"

For a moment he just stared up at Alan, not really wanting to go on. "Weee_eeell_?"

He let out a exasperated sigh before finally caving in.

"I'm going to go see the Great Fairy, okay?" he snapped, unable to keep the blush that was creeping out onto his face at bay. He hadn't realized exactly how stupid it sounded out loud. The sudden laughter on Alan's part only made him feel even more foolish.

"Great Fairy!" the storekeeper hollered, laughing loudly. "That's a good one!" The other man's demeanor quickly changed as he once again pointed towards the bed. "Now sit."

He stood defiantly, hands in fists, leaning slightly forward, as if daring his friend to make him. "Don't yah make me pick yah up and toss yah," Alan threatened. "I will, I kid you not." His determined stance faltered at that, and after a few more minutes of their glaring contest, he turned back around and stormed over to the cot, grumbling oaths to himself all the way.

"I'll be comin' back 'round...later," Alan called as he made his way to the door leading to the laundry pool. "And don't cha be movin'!"

"Whatever MOTHER!" he yelled back.

"And quit callin' me 'dat!" up came Alan's voice, followed by the sound of the door opening. Sighing, he turned towards the far wall and laid his head on the pillow. "Don't break anythin', got it!" Alan called one more time. He rolled his eyes. "I'll see yah la-Anju!"

He sat up.

"H-hi, Alan," came a familiar voice that made his heart jump up into his throat. It was Anju, oh dear _Giants_, it was Anju. She was here, she could see him, she could find out. He froze in his spot on the bed. "A-Alan," continued Anju, shakingly as usual. "I was, well, I was w-wondering if you had seen...wait, is someone up there?" Again he stiffened.

"Someone, up der?" he heard Alan ask nervously. "'Course not, aheheh..."

"Kafei?" Anju called. "Kafei! Are you up there?-! Please, Kafei!"

"Kafei ain't up there!" came the shopkeeper's voice again. He heard the two shift their feet a bit, Alan no doubt moving to block Anju from coming up the steps into the room he was currently frozen in fright in. "I-I was, uh, talkin' to me...me dog!" Both he and his fiancé were left dumbfounded by that comment.

"Your...dog?" Anju asked. "You have a...dog?"

"I kid you not."

He couldn't keep himself from letting out a sigh of relief at his friend's albeit stupid, but successful save before letting his head fall back onto the pillow.

"If I do see Kafei," he heard Alan continue, "I'll be sure ta tell 'em yous were lookin' for 'em."

"T-Thank you..." came Anju's reply. After that he heard the door shut and again he sighed.

He felt horrible, letting Anju worry like that. Knowing the girl, she probably blamed his sudden disappearance on herself...

"I'll come back to you, Anju," he whispered to himself, "I promise..."


	5. Restore Me

Hustino: Hi.  
Blu: -snore-  
Hustino: Don't let that snoring fool you into thinking she's spent late nights working on the story with me and depriving herself of sleep. No, she's just lazy.  
Blu: -kick snore-  
Hustino: Ow. I suppose I'll have to do the entire author's note myself, right?  
Skip the Hobo: you always have me!  
Hustino: I...wait...what? You're not supposed to exist.  
Blu: -snore- just get to the story already -snore-  
Hustino: Hey, hey, I don't want any of your imput now! Lazy! To tell you the truth, folks, I do all the work. She's just here to look pretty.  
Blu: -snore kick-

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Are You Running, Child? **

Restore Me

.-.-.-.-.-.

The ever-watchful moon looked on, as always, to the late afternoon escapades of the peoples living below its watch. In its place high above the world of Termina, it could see every corner of the land; in every compass direction, it could see every happening in each part of the world, from the mountain of Snowhead, where a blizzard ravaged its peak, to the swamps to the South, where poison flowed freely in the streams, to the cloudy waters of Great Bay, where fish disappeared to be replaced with monsters, and to the East, a land as dead and dry as a corpse.

It's main focus, though, was the single spectacle that appeared to fascinate it the most was the city of Clocktown, where another act in the play that held its attention so was about to begin, one that would show that the players were merely pieces of a larger plot. Having spent almost his entire day cooped up inside of the room behind of the Curiosity Shop-aside from the few short, quick strolls outside he took to get some fresh air—the main character was growing impatient and weary, waiting for Alan to return with something.

_It must be getting closer to dusk_, he thought to himself, still intent to visit the Great Fairy in North Clocktown, adamant that she was really there and that she could help him. A simple problem of changing sizes should be easy for a Great Fairy to fix, right?

Staring into the Keaton's mask as he dangled it over his face while laying on the cot, he hoped it would give him some sort of answer to the mess--part of him actually hoped that it would suddenly turn into the phantom fox he had talked to the night before.

Of course, all the mask did was stare back at him, its lifeless eyes saying nothing, as it had the other two dozen times he stared at it that day. A muffled sound from outside caught his attention and he shot up in bed. Carefully placing the mask on his face, he slowly stepped down the short stairs and towards the door, setting his ear on it to hear the sounds more clearly.

"There ain't nobody living here, I kid you not."

"But I have eye witness proof--including myself!--that there is someone staying here and here does not have an address."

"It...it, it's me dog. Yes, me dog that I recently got!" He threatened to bang his head against the wall, not believing Alan would use the same stupid excuse twice, especially since it seemed that quite a few people had, in fact, seen him. None of them recognized him, though, and that was a relief.

But who was interrogating Alan? One of Viscen's guards? Someone his mother or father had hired to find him? Maybe it was that stupid carpenter with the crush on Anju. _If I ever get my hands on him... _he thought, randomly mimicked chocking movements with his tiny hands.

"But I had seen a...person, not a dog. And it was a boy! As postman, I must make note of every place within these city walls being used as a residency, whether it be a backroom of a store or a park bench and whether the resident is a human, canine, feline, or bovine matters not!"

Well, that answered that. The overly dedicated mail man had seen him entering or leaving the back room and decided to find out who he was, coming to the conclusion that he was someone new to town and decided that an address needed to be assigned.

Wait, he thought. If the post man didn't know who he was, and he knew everyone in town by name, address, so oh and so forth, that meant no one knew who he really was. That thought was at the same time comforting and heart wrenching. Would even Anju be unable to recognize him in this body? Did this mean that only Alan knew he even existed anymore?

He shook his head, trying to dissipate his horrible thoughts. He wouldn't allow himself to disappear. He had to let those closest to him to know he was still out there.

No.

He had to let Anju know he was still out there.

And to do that...he'd need the mail man.

Taking up what little courage he still had left in him, he ripped off his mask. "Alan!" he yelled through the door. The argument that had just been going on outside came to a standstill. "Shut up and let the mail man in," he barked, trying to sound forceful. After a moment of nervous laughter no doubt from his balding friend, the door slowly opened revealing that Alan had indeed been speaking with the mail man.

He took no time in grabbing the now taller postal worker by the wrist and dragging him upstairs. The man gave a short yelp as he was pulled into the backroom, the sound of the door being slammed following behind him. He continued to drag the man back into top room before using the momentum he had built up to push the quite skinny runner onto his bed.

"Oh my!" the mail man cried as he fell back onto the bed, his large hat going askew. "I'm being kidnapped!"

"You are not," he said, still trying to sound at least three feet taller. "I just need to ask you a favor in private."

"What th' 'ell er' yah doin'?" came Alan's voice from behind him having just come up the stairs behind him.

"Shut up, Alan," he repeated, putting up a hand to stop him from saying anything else. "I'll be needing him to mail me a letter later."

"Well," the mail man righted his hat before going on, "I really don't think all of this was necessary if you just wanted me to-"

"Look at me," he said, interrupting. "Look at me and tell me _who I am_."

The Postman sat there stunned by his sudden, surprisingly forceful request. The man then took a minute to regain his composure before leaning forward slightly and giving him a long, hard look. As the postal worker looked him over, he did his best to stand the way he always had, back straight, head tilted slightly towards the sky which usually gave him a honorable sense, but he was sure now it only made him look snooty. Still, he stood, his head held high, trying to look as much like himself as he could. Still, the postman stared at him, looking him up and down ever so often.

And then it clicked.

The postman's mouth fell open, his eyes wide, and began to shake his head back and forth slowly.

"No...no it can't be!" the mail man stuttered in disbelief. "You couldn't possibly be...Kafei?"

For the second time since his shrinking, he broke an actual smile before nodding happily.

"It's me, alright," he replied, letting his stance become a little more relaxed.

"But...but how?"

He shook his head, putting his hand up again, motioning to the mail man not to speak. "The details aren't important, what is that I'm stuck this way and probably will be for a long time," He pointed at the postal worker, "and I need your help."

"Me?" asked the man, still quite in shock. "Wh-Why me?"

He sighed before continuing. "Tomorrow, I'm going to be sending a letter to...someone, and I don't want them to know just yet what's really happened to me, so I need your help. You can't tell them who the letter is from or where, got it?" The man nodded 'yes', then shook it 'no'. He let out another sigh. "Why not?"

"It's against my policy to keep information from the receiver," the mailman stated matter-of-factly. "It's against the postal worker's code, it's-"

"I don't care!" he nearly yelled. His fists trembled as silence fell back over the room. Slowly, his fists loosened and his scrunched his eyes shut against the migraine that was slowly coming back to him from the night before. "Just...please? Just one letter?" He looked back up at the man on the bed, his crimson eyes pleading. After a moment the mail man heaved a defeated sigh.

"Fine," the postman said, putting his skinny arms up in mock surrender, "fine. I won't tell them anything. But just this once."

He smiled again.

"That's all I need."

.-.-.-.-.-.

An hour or so later, Alan finished his day as the clean and polite Clocktown shop owner and changed into his more shady job as 'secret' owner of the Curiosity Shop. As secret, of course, as one can be when the only thing hiding one's identity as a normal shop owner apart from a black market scoundrel is a disguise made up entirely of a pair of sunglasses. He had always chastised Alan on his business choices, but having not been run out of his shops by the authorities by now and having yet to do anything too stupid, he decided his friend was not doing too badly.

But, really--sunglasses? He rolled his eyes and shook his head every time he thought of Alan's mastery of disguise. The man should get a better disguise or not use one at all, since the eyewear just wasn't cutting it.

The first night to put his plan into action--to sit and watch, visually interrogating each and every costumer or...'business associate' to entire the shady outlet--and he was already frustratingly bored out of his mind in under two hours. Only two people had entered the Curiosity Shop since it opened, one being the crazy, old, apocalypse-ranting astronomer from out of town searching for seeming random and useless items for whatever it was the quack did in that observatory of his and the other one--whom was even more unusual than the old man--was some huge bird, like a freakishly overgrown guay, but apparently possessing more intelligence than the annoying crows.

It came in, dropped off items it had gotten from who-knows-where and then left as quickly as it had entered. Dumbfounded between the exchange between Alan and the bird, he had asked, but received the shopkeeper's reply to everything concerning the Curiosity Shop's visitors--everything was strictly confidential, no matter the customer. Instead of pushing it further, he just sighed in defeat, commented on the view he had of Alan's shiny bald spot, then sat back down and continued waiting.

After what seemed to have been an entire night, but the clock swore only an hour had passed, he laid on his bed, his newly acquired miniature body threatening to explode from the boredom and frustration. _That's it!_ hethought, _I'm going!_ Standing defiantly, he dusted off his clothing--which was much cleaner than the night before; he was hiding in the 'laundry pool', after all--and grabbed his Kenton mask, placing it over his face.

"Aye! Kafei! What're yah up t'?"

"I'm asleep, Alan," he said dismissively.

"Eh, so early? I s'pose yah have 'ad a bit o' a tirin' day."

"Oh, yes, you've just been oh, so riveting that I'm just exhausted."

"O', shut yer yap an' get t' sleep."

He rolled his eyes, but gave no vocal reply, instead leaving his friend to assume that he was, in fact, asleep. Quietly opening the door, he stepped out into the cold, night air. The stars brightened the sky and the enormous moon glared down upon him. Sneering, he thought to himself, _yeah, that's something you'd want to kiss someone beneath. Reeeal romantic._ Reaching up to his face, he double-checked to ensure that his mask was in fact there, as if to make sure that the moon could not recognize him.

As he made his way to North Clocktown, he looked at his setting. The combined effect of being so much smaller and out when there was no one else gave him a strange sense, almost as if being lost. The clock tower, the town's namesake, loomed over head, the foundation of the Festival Tower, just having been started, sat in front of it. The ancient structure, despite being far older than the town itself, not to mention one of the oldest and most mysterious structures in all of Termina, had become normal for most of the townspeople, something that was just there. But now, with the sudden change of perspective, he finally felt a certain amount of awe for the great tower.

As he gazed at the clock tower, up and down, he did a double-take, his mind reeling in surprise, but he could not find what he had thought was there just a fraction of a second ago; swearing it had, in fact, been there, he stared at the top of the clock tower, but still could not find anything.

He swore he saw it...

The silhouette of the Skull Kid atop the clock tower, gazing towards the moon...

No, the Imp could never reach the peak of the tower. The path to the top was locked to all except on the day of the Festival.

But...he still swore he saw...

Shaking his head, he went back to what was important in the here and now; reaching the Great Fairy was his best hopes of recovering, since convincing the Skull Kid to undo what had been done was probably a hopeless plan.

Shaking the thoughts of towers and moons from his mind, he ventured down the steps leading into South Clocktown and began his search for the Great Fairy. Rumors and myths he had heard when he was growing-up was all he had to go on, but it would have to do. He vaguely remembered Anju's grandmother saying that the Great Fairy resided somewhere in North Clocktown, so that was where he would begin his search.

As he started up the steps towards the North Clocktown entrance, he felt an odd twinge of fear as he passed the now large owl statue standing across from the West Clocktown walkway. He remembered the stone bird giving him the creeps when he was a child, and now he knew why. It towered over him, its sharp beak pointed down towards him menacingly. Quickly turning away from the carved creature, he sprinted up the remainder of steps and into North Clocktown.

The over cast that had shadowed their land the night before was now gone, his surroundings much brighter than the last time he had visited this part of town. With the absence of both the falling rain and his own fright, he was able to get a better look at the area. North Clocktown was absolutely nothing like the rest of the city; in fact, it more resembled a section of Termina Field that had somehow gotten surrounded by some of the town wall. For whatever reasons, no one ever considered building a home or store there and--adults, anyways--avoided the place like a plague. Many found it unsettling for certain, unexplainable reasons, but children adored the area as a playground. The old slide, having stood since his own childhood, was a testament to that.

He did know, now, that the area did have unsettling qualities to it and he experienced one first-hand, with his encounter with the phantom fox, Keaton. With that discovery, he had thought of visiting the Great Fairy; if one childhood myth was real, who was to say that another wasn't?

He even thought back to his childhood that he had spent playing in North Clocktown, along with Alan and Anju and a few others from town. Now that he thought about it, there had been some unusual going-ons back then. Bushes would shake, but nothing visible moving them. Toys and objects would be moved to strange places, as if teasing the owners, sometimes they would be lost entirely.

One memory he had that was quite strange was when he and Anju had been no more than eight; the girl had lost a favorite toy of hers--a tiny stuffed Keaton which she had gotten for her birthday. After hours of searching, he had found it, sitting atop the slide, a grin on the little toy's face. They had searched the area up and down, definitely covering the entire slide, but couldn't find it, but yet, there it was.

Shaking his head, he continued searching for something--anything--that would be a clue to the Great Fairy's whereabouts. The clue was a fairly large and blunt one, but he had trouble finding it, what with the darkness and all. Dark cave entrances were hard to find in the middle of the night. It was on the western wall of North Clocktown, which Kafei swore he remembered as being...well, a wall. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the darkness of the new cave.

Taking a few strides into the darkness, he suddenly felt very ill at ease. Something was terribly wrong...something he couldn't quite place. The feeling was similar to that of when he had first awoken in this smaller body, but he couldn't understand why he felt that way. If this really was the Great Fairy's cave, then he would be back to normal in no time...Why would something be wrong?

Forcing himself to continue on into the black cave, he slowly removed his mask before calling out into the darkness.

"Hello?" he managed around the sudden lump in his throat. "Hello? G-Great Fairy?" Straining his ears for a response, he thought he heard something further on down the tunnel. Hope rising, his broke into a jog, clearing the rest of the tunnel in a few bounds.

The black surrounding him suddenly erupted with color and light. He let out a cry of surprise, shielding his eyes with his hands.

_"...help me..._"

He looked up slowly. "Who said that?"

"_Help me..._"

_"...Help me._"

Cautiously he looked over his shoulder.

Behind him was the tunnel he had just come out of, just as dark and dank as it had seemed when he was passing through it. He turned back around and took in his new surroundings. He was standing alone in what appeared to be a large fountain. He remembered hearing someone saying the Great Fairy lived in a fountain, but...there was nothing here...

"_Help me...!_"

Something flew up at him from out of seemingly nowhere, causing him to stumble back a step. Another zoomed by his ear a moment later, making a soft twinkling sound as it passed. One by one, more and more of the strange pink, flying creatures began to fly at him from all directions, ushering him into the middle of the shimmering pool.

"_Help me!_"

"_Broken!_"

"_Help me!_"

"_Fix!_"

It took him a moment, but he soon realized that these strange...things were what had been calling to him. "F-fix what?" he asked.

"_Imp!_"

"_Wretched Imp!_"

The pink glowing creature began to encircle him, slowly becoming faster and faster, as if he had enraged them by asking what was wrong.

"_Horrid imp!_"

"_Broken!_"

"_Fix!_"

"_HELP ME!_"

Letting out a cry of fright, he broke out of the ring of light and rushed back into the darkness of the tunnel. Still the lights called, begging for help. "Stop it!" he hissed, clenching his eyes shut, his hands covering his ears. He continued to run, suddenly relieved when he finally broke free of the darkness of the cave and ran out into the moonlight. He ran down the slope blindly and towards the tree. In his hast, he did not notice the protruding root which his foot then caught under, sending crashing down to earth, a now quite familiar feeling.

"Mmmhmm, hehe. You must pay better attention to your surroundings, Child, or else you will not survive to the Day of the Fall." Jumping to his feet, he shot around, finding himself standing a few feet from the Keaton. "Oho! You brought my symbol tonight! Hehe, I suppose this visit will not be as special an occasion as the last."

Panting, he could not speak, but instead pointed in the direction of what he had coined as 'the cave of the monstrous pink fluff balls of evil' and spattered a few non-sensical words, attempting to explain the threat to the fox. The creature simply turned its head in the direction and giggled out another one of its laughs. "Oho...you have gone into the Great Fairy's cave, Child?"  
Finally regaining his breath, he gave the fox a bewildered look and replied, "That could not have been the Great Fairy's cave."

"Oh, but it is, Child! That is the Great Fairy of Clocktown and all of Termina Field, having lived in that humble cave since the time the giants still roamed the land, watching over the peoples that were put under her watch, keeping evil at bay and healing those in dire need. She was quite funny, hehe." For the first time, he saw what appeared to be regret in the Keaton's face. "That was, before. Oho! Yes, she's gotten herself into quite a mess," the phantom's normal, grinning face returned, "but nothing that cannot be restored! Hehe, by the right person, of course." It leaned in closer to him, causing him to stumble back, "Oho, but you are not the right person. Not at all. Not he who can change destiny, destiny appointed by even the gods themselves."

"Uh, sorry?" he gave the creature a look of discomfort and it sat back to where it was, rather than continue looming over him. Ignoring the creature's babblings about destiny and whatnot, he went back to the topic that concerned him. "If that was the cave of the Great Fairy, where is she?"

"Oho! She's there, most definitely."

"I was just in there and there was nothing closely resembling what anyone would consider a Great Fairy. Just these tiny, creepy pink things with weird faces asking for help and complaining about...an Imp..." the shock hit him as he came to his own answer. Knowing this, the Keaton took up the chance to talk again.

"Oho, I can see that you have figured out the riddle yourself, child. Yes, those accursed creatures you saw within the fairy fountain was, indeed, the Great Fairy herself. Much like you, that vile masked Imp has placed a curse upon her. Unlike you, however, where the Imp's sole motivation had been...hehe, entertainment, it was fear that drove him to undo the Great Fairy."

He thought for a moment, taking everything in. Nothing made sense now, but considering that nothing had made sense before, he wasn't as distressed about it as he probably should have been; in fact, he felt more curiosity than anything. "The Skull Kid has always been a troublemaker, sure, but he's never actually done anything to hurt anyone before." He stared the phantom in the eyes, asking "Why was the Skull Kid afraid of the Great Fairy?"

Matching his gaze, the fox replied, "Who mentioned anything about the Imp fearing the Great Fairy?" seeing the puzzled look on his face, the Keaton laughed and continued. "I will warn you, child--take this to heart. There is more to this than you or the Imp. This surpasses even the Great Fairy and I. Heed this warning over the next three days, while you search for your beloved--your plight is insignificant. If, in the face of such insurmountable odds, you were to lose hope, if you were to run away, do not...hehe, how you say, 'take it personally'?"

"No." The lone word he spoke carried such force that the Keaton silenced, humor replaced by grim seriousness, "I will not do that. I don't care what else is happening, I don't care how insignificant I am compared to whatever is going to happen. The only thing I care about is being at Anju's side at the alter as we wed."

"Then..." the Keaton spoke quietly, seriously, "You may survive yet."

They both stood there, in silence, each thinking--whatever it was the Keaton could possibly be contemplating, he had no idea. "What if I were to...fix the Great Fairy? Wouldn't--" a quick shake of the phantom fox stopped him in mid-thought.

"You cannot. You are not he who controls the power of a god so strong that fate itself can be changed. That destiny lies upon another's shoulders. And," the Keaton added, "If you were somehow able to, it would be for naught; the Great Fairy's powers are not up to the task of breaking a curse bestowed by that vile mask."

"But..."

"Hehe, you are a hopeful one. I genuinely wish to see that stay with you over the course of the next three days. But, the fact of the matter is, that Imp wields powers beyond even the Great Fairies. The fact that they have been shattered alone is proof of that; luckily, they were strong enough that they could not be destroyed by that darkness."

"Then...but, I thought you said the Skull Kid did this to the Great Fairy out of fear of her powers?"

"Oh, oh, child," the Keaton snickered and shook its head, "The Imp's own fears of the Great Fairies have little to do with this. This...what happened to them, was due to three things. A precautionary tactic in case their powers had been underestimated, a hindrance for 'He who can change Fate', and...as amusement."

At the sound of his disappointment, the fox added, "At least you know now that you are somewhat special; it takes someone in genuinely dire need or incredible magic power to see the Great Fairy's entrance."

"Oh, and what good it did me, "Letting out a growl, he kicked the nearby tree with all his might. "What a waste of time! Not only am I more freaked out, but now not even a Great Fairy can heal me!" sighing, he turned back to the Keaton, who watched him with a glint of amusement, "What am I to do?"

With what appeared to be a fox imitation of a human shrug, the phantom offered, "No clue, as you would say. Hehehe. There is much more to all this than you, as I said. It is greater than Clocktown, of any of the countries here--it is greater than Termina."

"Yeah, that's just great. Right about now, I couldn't care less. What's going to happen that's so bad that it's more important than the Skull Kid cursing people and destroying Great Fairies?"

"Oho, that...that Child, is not in my place to say. You will find out soon," gazing up into the sky, the phantom stared. Following the direction, he saw the face of the moon, staring directly at him, as if the thing had been watching him the entire time.

Unsettled and disturbed, he turned back to ask the Keaton a few more questions, but...the phantom fox had disappeared when he had turned away. "Yeah, bye to you, too. Oh, and thanks a lot." Grumbling to himself, he shoved his hands into his pockets and grimly began the walk back to the laundry pool--making sure to not allow his gaze to go anywhere near the vicinity of the horrid moon.


	6. Search for Me

Blu: Ho-kay, good news and bad news.

Hustino: What's the good news?

Blu: Besides the fact that we finally updated? The good news is that the two of us are dating, silly.

Hustino: oh…score!

Blu: Knew you'd like that one, but aren't you going to ask what the bad news is?

Hustino: I think I'm liking the good news a bit too much to bother with that. But, just to humor you, what's the bad news?

Blu: That because of our tardy-ness, we've lost the…-counts the reviews- three readers we had.

Hustino: Oh, no! …Eh, the good news still makes it all better.

Blu: hehehe, yupp…but no kisses for you in front of the readers.

Hustino: Aww, come on. Most of the people here are corny romance readers and writers as it is! They'd enjoy some Hustino/Blu action!

Blu: …no.

Hustino: Can't win them all, I suppose…

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Are you running child?**

Search for Me

.-.-.-.-.-.

The grand, looming spectator that was the moon appeared to watch something near North Clocktown, ignoring the young, red-headed woman, who was awake far too late into the night, having been unable to sleep. Glad for the gaze of the hideous boulder looming in the sky to be off of her, she found some level of peace. Her nightmares--ones both while awake and asleep--began to gnaw at her, causing much anxiety and fear.

She had gotten some sleep, true, but it involved tossing and turning and now she was awake--a good three hours earlier than usual, but awake nonetheless. Groggy and disoriented, the innkeeper stepped down the stairs, making sure to avoid any squeaking boards to not awaken her mother or grandmother. Finding her way into the kitchen, she prepared herself some coffee, giving up on getting any more sleep and trying to distract herself from the pounding pain of a headache.

Pacing in the hallway outside of the kitchen--a feeble attempt to alleviate and distract her mind--she could not help but continue to think about the events over the past day. Who has told her the truth? Could the Mayor have just been kind to her so that she'd feel better? Was Cremia lying and in fact did whisk away her fiancé? Was the receptionist being cruel or was she telling the truth?

It made no sense for Kafei to have disappear as he had; none of the drinking buddies that had been with him that night knew where he went off to. Did he...actually leave her? Was this all because of her or something she had done? It was far too close to the Festival...their wedding for it all to be a coincidence.

Wasn't it?

Sighing, she set herself down into a chair right behind the desk in the waiting room. It was tidy, as usual, each and every little paper and pencil in its place. Even the cow candle, with its bobbling head, was absent of any dust and tucked neatly into a corner of the desk.

She stared into her cup, the brown liquid shimmering in the morning light. Kafei would never have left for anyone else, would he? They were in love. Despite everything else anyone would say to her, that one fact she held true and with that, she knew the truth. He had not left because of her.

She would have to wait for him.

But, in the meantime, what _had _happened to him? She hoped with everything she could muster that he was unharmed. If anything had happened to him...if she would, in fact, never see him again...she could not even bring herself to think of what she would do.

"Please," she said, sniffling, "_Please_ be alright, Kafei."

Touching her temple with one hand, she felt another twinge of pain from the headache. Sighing, she laid her head down on the desk, hoping to earn at least an hours rest before her mother came down, demanding that the day's chores be done. Clenching her teeth, she couldn't help but feel as though a circus had trampled through her skull.

At that moment, she heard the sound of the front door being opened, but unconsciously ignored it, as she frantically--as frantic as a resting person could be, at any rate--grasped slumber, finally dozing off, until the sound of half a dozen voices tore her away, sending her upright in the chair. She watched as a pair of dancers, followed by a man with a strange pipe instrument marched in, with two men tossing balls to one another and laughing their brains out right behind. Bringing up the rear was their leader, the loudest of them all, shouting orders and insults.

After the group made their way upstairs and into their room, she was once again left alone in the silent room, with the morning sunlight. Gulping down the contents of her glass in one try, she laid her head back onto the desk, her eyes wide open, waiting for the day to begin so that it would end.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Uh...miss?"

At being addressed, her eyes shot open, her body suddenly sitting rigid and straight in her chair. Oh dear, how long had she been asleep? She turned and looked at the clock hanging on the wall, her face taking on a look of horror on seeing the time.  
Nearly two PM.

She let out a soft moan of disbelief, her hands coming up to cup her face. Her mother was going to _kill_ her!

...Why hadn't her mother killed her yet?

"A-Are you alright, Miss Anju?"

The voice brought her back to reality, and, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, turned her gaze from the wall to the person who addressed her on the other side of the reception desk. To her surprise it was ClockTown's lone mailman, a letter present in his right hand.

"O-oh, hello," she said unsteadily, bowing ever so slightly as she spoke. "How m-may I help you?"

"I have a letter for you," the postal worker replied, holding the one in his hand out to her. Gingerly, she took the note from him and flipped it over to find the front of it blank.

Her mind raced and heart beat loudly in her ears as she shakingly removed the letter from its envelope, wishing all the while it was from and at the same time not from who she thought it was. She willed her fingers to unfold the paper in her hands, but instead turned to the mailman again, addressing him in a hurried, "Who is it from?"

"The one who wrote the letter, I'd suppose," he replied hurried, a uncomfortable tone present in his voice and features.

"That's not what I meant," she half replied, half moaned. "Where did you get it from?"

"A mail box," he replied just as uneasy. This time her head fell back as the groan left her throat, hands falling over her heart as if to keep it in place.

"That's not _what I meant_!" She opened her mouth to ask the postman again, but on seeing his set face, decided against it and instead looked down into her hands at the letter that may or may not be from...

Her fingers still trembling, she unfolded the parchment and, her eyes wavering on the verge of tears, read the first line.

'_My dear, sweet Anju,' _

The tears on the verge of falling fell,

'_I am safe.  
_

'_I apologize if I worried you in any way, Anju. I am unharmed and I am not being held hostage or anything of the like. I am away under my own choice and free will, but you must not tell anyone else. I wrote this letter for you and only you, so that you would know that I am safe._

_'I know I am hurting you by doing this, but you must understand that I cannot see you right now. I cannot tell you why I am in hiding at the moment, and for that I apologize. It is for our own good, though, so trust me, please.  
_

'_While I am gone, do not take anyone's word for truth. The rumor mills have always done plenty of work when it came to me, and I am sure there are even more now with my sudden disappearance. Do not believe anything that I myself have not told you.  
_

'_I assure you that, if I could, I would be there with you right at this moment. Never before have I felt so detached or alone. I miss you. I love you._

_'I will come back to you, even if I have to go through Hell. I promise. _

'Love, Kafei.

'_P.S. Please, do not mind the postman; I told him not to tell you anything, so do not become upset with him if you can help it.'  
_

She spent a very long moment staring at the letter; not quite rereading it, but...just staring, thinking, doing her best to let it all sink in.

Kafei was safe.

The relief she felt at that fact, along with the fact that Kafei had not run away with anyone, was obscured by curiosity and dread. Why couldn't he have come to see her in person? What could possibly keep them apart, only days from their wedding? Would there even be a wedding?For now, though, she smiled and closed her eyes, pushing all the thoughts aside but one; Kafei was safe. Nothing else mattered at the moment.

"Th...thank you..."

The post man nodded, "You're very welcome, Miss Anju. I am just doing my job." With that, he turned to leave, returning to his rounds.

"Oh, Kafei..." she held the paper against her chest, her eyes still watering.

"Whoa boy, ain't this just awkward?" a female voice said.

Freezing, she suddenly realized that the mail man had not been the only visitor she had. Somehow, she must have overlooked whoever it was in the excitement. "Oh, I'm sorry! I-I didn't realize..." opening her eyes, she didn't see anyone at first, then looked downwards--there, a boy clad in green stared back at her, with large, blue eyes. She stared for a moment; something about those eyes felt out of place for such a young boy.

"Hi!" The boy waved politely.

Shaking her head to bring herself back to reality, she responded, "Oh, I'm sorry. Hello! Welcome to the Stockpot Inn!" Odd...she could have sworn that she heard a woman's voice. "May I help you?"

"Uh," the boy looked at her, thinking. At that moment, she realized the boy wore a sword and shield on his back--neither of which were simple children's toys. They were both quite obviously real weapons. _A child his age? That's so unusual._

"Oh, snap out of it, dimwit! We want a room, that's why we came here, don't you remember?" the woman's voice--slightly more upset now than before--came back. Looking around, she could not see anyone there, other than the two of them. Looking back at the boy, she now saw a odd ball of light floating near his head, and with closer inspection, she made out a tiny body in the bright light, along with tiny, translucent wings.

"Oh! Right, right," the boy said, giving himself a light bop on the head for forgetting. "I'd like a room, please!" The child then forced what she could guess to be his impression of an innocent smile. This boy was ever so strange...

"Oh...do you have a reservation?" she asked, knowing they only had one vacancy because of the traveling troupe, and that room had already been claimed by someone who would be arriving that evening. For this boy's sake, she hoped it was him.

"Uh..." the boy looked over his shoulder at the floating glowing ball hovering in the air beside him. She could have sworn it made what sounded like a little annoyed groan before bobbing up and down, as if nodding. "Er, yes!" the boy replied finally. "Yes, I do."

"Oh good!" she let out a pleased sigh, a hand falling over her heart again. "Your name?"

"Link," the boy replied. Sure enough, his name was in the reservation list, assigned to the Dagger Room. She said as much as she handed the young child his key. The light ball gave a high pitched snort.

"That's a _great_ name to give a room. I'll sure be sleeping soundly."

"Tatl," Link hissed, "be nice."

"I'm just saying."

"It's great to know that I have a place to stay while I'm here," the odd boy grinned at her. She smiled and nodded at Link, who continued, "Thank you, miss...uh..."

"Anju." she said.

"Thank you, Miss Anju!" Link continued to grin happily, as if she did him some great service. Really, if he had made a reservation, was there any worry? She was still genuinely happy to help, though.

"You're very welcome. You're well mannered for a boy your age. It's like you're seven years older than you appear!" She wasn't positive, but she thought Link's face flinched, as if she had said something wrong. _What an odd boy..._

The little ball of light bounced up and down in the air, as if acting aggravated. She heard the squeaky quiet voice again, also sounding aggravated. "Yeah, yeah, a _room_, that's wonderful. Let's go see the mayor already! We don't have time to be playing inside of a smelly little inn!"

Link reached out and shoved the little light under his hat, which caused the green cap to begin bouncing and the little voice shouting muffled, tiny curses. "Thank you again, Miss Anju. I need to go now, but I'll be sure to use the room when I need a rest." The little green-clad boy grinned, again, and walked out of the inn.

"What a very odd boy." She smiled again, "But he was sweet."

Soon after the boy left, the door opened and in walked a large, strange figure. She instantly recognized it as a Goron--a rare sight for her, even during the time of the festival. Not that few Gorons came to the Carnival of Time, but they never came to the inn and she rarely left it.

The Goron slowly trotted its way to the counter. After a moment, she caught herself staring, "O-oh! I'm s-sorry! My I help you?"

"Oh, yes...goro," the Goron shifted the weight of the pack on his back a bit, "I would like a room--goro."

"A...a room?" she looked at him, bewildered. Gorons rarely, if ever, came to the inn to spend the nights during the festival. Not to mention, she was sort of out of rooms. "I...I'm sorry," she tried smiling kindly at the huge figure, "But we're all out of rooms."

"Goro?" she received a confused look, "I have a reservation, goro."

"Res...reservation?" She looked down at her list of people that have already paid for rooms--which amounted to Gorman's troupe and Link. "...What is your name?"

"Link-goro."

She stared at him for a moment--a _very _long moment--and then told herself once again, as the traces of her headache returned, that she just wanted to go back to sleep.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Miss Anju? Miss Anjuuuuuuuuu? Are you alive?"

She turned slightly in her sleep, vaguely feeling the prodding she was getting in the shoulder. She waved off what ever object was poking her absently and nestled further into her folded arms.

"See, she's just sleeping already. Now, put the deku stick away, Link!"

"Do you _want_ to go back into my hat, because that's where you're about to go. Huh, is that what you want?"

"Goddess of Time, you're _so_ immature."

She tried to ignore the voices that were blaring through her subconscious, but she just couldn't return to her dream. Poking her head out of her arms, she groggily opened an eye, trying to find the source for the two voices.

In front of her was the Link's little ball of light and beside that was...

Kafei!

She let out a shriek of surprise before toppling over to the ground.

"Miss Anju!"

"Look what you did, you idiot! You scared her to death!"

"I didn't mean to, I just.…"

Slowly, she regained her composure and pulled her self back up to the counter.

On the other side stood a very concerned green clad boy, his hand in the process of removing a mask from his face. She let out a disappointed and embarrassed sigh.  
It had only been a Kafei _mask_.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Anju!" Link said hurriedly. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just—"

"W-Why do you have a Kafei mask?" she asked, interrupting the boy mid-sentence. "Are you l-looking for him, too? Are you the one that M-Mayor's wife hired to find him?"

The boy gave her a shrug. "I guess."

Her hand fell into her skirt pocket, fingering the letter she had gotten. If Link truly was the _professional_ person finder Kafei's mother had hired to find her son, then she should tell him about the letter...but Kafei had said that the letter was for her eyes and her eyes only, and she didn't want to go against his wishes...but she wanted to find him so badly! She believed what he had said about being safe and unharmed, but she still worried. What would keep him from her? She had to know...but...but...

"I h-have some information f-for you then," she said finally, pulling out the letter, only to play with in her lap. "Please m-meet me in the kitchen tonight at eleven thirty."

Link smiled and nodded. "Gotcha, see you then."


End file.
